Doom PS4 review

 

Right since I've just finished playing the latest Doom game on the PS4, which is known funnily enough simply as "Doom" I thought its time to do my review on it and see how it stacks up to its previous entries.  So let's load up those guns and get that armoured marine suit on and take on some badasses....

And I will say a bit about the plot but not too much but for the sake of it I will give out the usual warning...

SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!

STORY

So, the story is set on Mars at a research facility run by Union Aerospace Corporation (UAC) and its director, Samuel Hayden, an android who's was formerly human but lost his life to brain cancer.  The researchers at the facility plan to draw energy from Hell in order to save an energy crisis that is going on at Earth.  This was done via the use of the Argent tower, which enables transport to hell and back as well as siphoning off the energy from hell itself.  Hayden has already led many expeditions to hell and captured some demons and artefacts and taken them back for study, one of which includes the Doom slayer, who was imprisoned by the demons after going on a rampage in Hell.

However things soon go from bad to worse as one of the UAC scientists, Olivia Pierce made a pact with the demons to open a portal to Hell and they come through and invade the facility.  Hayden out of desparation then releases the Doom slayer from his sarcophagus to stop the demon invasion and close the portal.  And its from the Doom slayer starts his bloody crusade to try and destroy the demons and close the portal in order to save humankind.....

THOUGHTS

As a follow-up to Doom 3, Doom is supposed to have recaptured the spirit of the original Doom games back in the 1990's and to a certain extent the game developers have succeded.  However there are times where Doom is just a bit too chaotic and it becomes more like an attempt to try and see how many demons they can squeeze onto the screen at one time and its pacing is incredibly frantic for the most part (but I will say more about that in the flaws section).

However that is certainly not all bad given that the game has more variety than its predecessor in most departments and you have a full array of weapons and even upgrades and extra challenges to try out but I will say more on that in the gameplay section.   

GAMEPLAY

As for the gameplay well its about as simple as you could get as the main gameplay consists of the Doom slayer running amok and shooting anything in sight that is demon like.  But of course the game does differ in a few respects from its predecssors in that the Doom slayer can now have access to upgrading his weapons by being rewarded a point system as he will pick up so many points throughout the game, which will allow him to unlock new upgrades.  The DS can also upgrade his suit and enhance its capabilities for armour, scanning purposes and aswell as enhance his movement.  The DS can now also perform double jumps once he gains access to an enhanced pair of boots, which can allow him travel greater distances and climb up high ledges.   

Weapons wise the game has plenty on offer with all the original Doom guns here such as the shotgun, chaingun (the best weapon in the game for me!) plasma rifle, rocket launcher and of course the BFG and again as the game progresses, the player can receive upgrades to increase the overall ammo count for all weapons.  There are also some new weapons too such as the Gauze canon and a newer version of the super shotgun.  There is also the inclusion of the trusty old chainsaw except this time it requires fuel in order for it to be used.  The Doom slayer also has a melee attack called the glory kill, which is essentially a Mortal Kombat fatality move, where the DS finishes off a weakened enemy in the most brutal fashion possible!

The Doom slayer also has access to other short term pick ups that enhance his speed and power such as quad damage, which can deal out four times as much damage from your weapons and the old classic bezerk, where the DS can brutally batter his foes to pieces with just a few swings off his fists! The Doom slayer also can access a speed boost pick-up that temporarily increases the speed of his movement but also the rate of gunfire. 

Getting onto the enemies, every enemy from the first two games are here that include the imps, cacodemons, Barons of Hell, Mancubus (plus an additional version called the Cyber Mancubus), the lost souls (the demon skulls on fire), the Cyberdemon, the revenants and of course the "Pinky" demon.  There are also some newer enemies who are basically possessed humans but they don't pose much of a threat although there is the Unwilling, which is basically a rebranded name for the Arch Vile, who had the ability to ressurect dead demons although here I think they just summon more demons.

Difficulty wise the game does present quite a challenge and even at the easy mode "I'm too young to die" the game is still quite tough as the enemies can overwhelm the Doom slayer at times and the big bosses will have you potentially tear your hair out as they can be very tough to beat.  But at least with the game you will be challenged to try and finish it and I played it on the easy mode so I can only guess how tough it would have been on the normal one!

GRAPHICS 

Graphics wise, Doom looks superb and it features some amazing looking environments from the dark and dingy corridors of the research labs to the bloody and gore infested halls of Hell aswell as the outer regions that are to be found in the South of Heaven.  The game's enemies pretty much are also given a pretty good overhaul as many of them have been updated to look quite fearsome.  It also features a ton of gore naturally so there is no shortage of blasted and blown off limbs and torsos etc to be seen after the Doom slayer has finished with the demons, so if you have a weak stomach then this game may not be for you!         


Colour wise the game's graphics are also pretty vivid and striking particularly in the exterior levels on Mars and not to mention certain parts of Hell where there are sections where the skies are a deep red.  In short Doom is not a game that hasn't considered its colour scheme when it comes to its environments and overall it is one very impressive game visually and the fact there are so many enemies onscreen at once, its quite a feat that the PS4 can keep a high frame rate throughout.

MUSIC

As for the game's music it was composed by Australian composer, Mick Gordon, who has provided one of the most bizarre and frantic video game scores I've ever heard, which is a weird mix of extreme heavy metal and wild electronic techno!  So many games these days however have a typical metal mix to them and its sure enough this one does too, which makes Gordon's score just a bit predictable that way.  However it still does have some good moments and the bizarre techno madness as at times interesting to listen to.  Overall though this isn't a great score as such but it is still fit for purpose given its so manic it plays its part in a manic game pretty well.

FLAWS

As for flaws....does Doom have any worth mentioning at all?  Well, yes it does.

And to kick off for me I think one of the main problems with the game is that tries to pack in just a bit too much all at once when it comes to its enemies especially as the game progresses you are swamped by enemies left, right and centre, which can make it tricky to "empty" the room so to speak.  And the frequency of which the DS goes from place to place and faces yet another hoard of enemies is what can make the game pretty reptitive and monotonous at times.

Another issue was to do with the brutality of the game's violence itself and the depiction of the Doom slayer also as I think they overdid the DS's brutality just a bit too much especially with his glory kills, it just seems a bit of an extreme way to finish off a baddie.  What's wrong with just zapping the bad guys until they fall over dead, I just feel its a bit excessive to see the Doom Slayer have to pull out their innards or beat them to death with one of their own body parts!  And this is especially true of the game's ending, which I won't give away but the glory kill involved is pretty brutal and excessive for sure and things like that left a bad taste in my mouth when it came to the game's violence levels.

I also felt that the game really wasn't scary and that they focused more on making it an action orientated game than provide any kind of suspense or terror, which Doom 3 had plenty of and in that respect, Doom 3 kicks its ass at when it comes to creating uncomfortable tension and creepiness.  But here the game just relies on its bludgeoning barrage of all-out action and gore to keep the player stiumlated rather than provide them with any kind of scares, which wouldn't have gone a miss.

The game also has one or two really annoying enemies also and the main two that spring to mind are the "Pinky" demon and the "Unwilling".  To start off with the "Pinky" demon I often found it really annoying how it kept charging up to you and as it tries to ram you to death it quicly becomes very tiresome and maybe the idea was to scare you with it but it doesn't work its just a pain in neck!  Then we have the "Unwilling" which is basically the Arch vile from Doom 2 and 3, except this one is more like a possessed demonic ballet dancer that spins around and teleports at will, which makes it annoying for you to try and kill them off.

I also felt the game's depiction of Hell in all honesty could have been alot better than what it was as for me the colour schemes of Hell were generally too bright as there were times where you were looking at pale orange skies rather than deep blacks (OK there was one red sky at one point!).  In Doom 3, Hell was the game's best level and it was as dark as anything, which made for an altogether more unsettling experience.  However here you are roaming around just another area that doesn't feel all the intimidating to be in or at least not anymore so than any environment on Mars.

And last of all I think the inclusion of upgrade droids was a bit of a pest at times as there were simply not enough of them about to unlock all your weapon upgrades (although perhaps you really need to look for them!).  I also found it daft how the Demon slayer felt the need to punch the droids once it received his upgrades.  I mean doesn't this guy believe in being subtle or gentle at any time at all????!!!

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So in summing up, "Doom" is for the most part quite an entertaining action shooter, which sees the franchise get a decent reboot as it is not short on action and it also has plenty of great visuals and deserves credit for providing more varied environments than its predecessors.  The game is also quite fast paced, too so despite going from area to area shooting a seemingly endless hoard of demons, its pacing prevents it from becoming too monotonous.  The game's weapons upgrades and armour system is also very welcome and makes for a good change than the limited (or no) customisation options given before.  It also presents a pretty stiff challenge as a game even on easy mode and given today that there are so many games you can work your way through with fair ease, Doom deserves some credit for providing its players with a stern test. 

However there are times for me that the game's uncompromising brutality can be a bit of a turn-off especially given the Demon Slayer seems to, as Arnold Schwarzenegger once said in Commando "enjoy killing a little too much!".  And this results in the game's uncomfortable glory (or really gory!) kill system, which sees the Doom slayer finish off his enemies in the most gruesome ways possible.  I also think that the fast paced movement of the character might also not be to some people's preference as his speed could induce motion sickness in some people, suggesting that maybe they should have scaled back the Doom slayer's speed a little to counteract this issue.

So overall, Doom is worth playing to see how they have updated one of the all time classic shoot-em-up games and if you like your shooters and non-stop gore then this game is definitely for you.  However if you are looking for something that is a bit more subtle and relies a bit more on creepy, tense atmospheres with some action combined then you are better looking elsewhere.  And for me I still think Doom 3 is the better game, even though "Doom" has its moments I felt it should have delivered more on the scares front and not just the brutal fighting.

Anyway so that's it for now and I will be back yet again sometime soon with another review.

Till the next one its bye for now.